Shaphir
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [1]
Shaphir . A city, probably on the Philistine plain ( Micah 1:11 ). It has been located by some a few miles S.E. of Ashdod. Attempts have been made to identify it with the Shamir of Joshua 15:48 .
H. L. Willett.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [2]
shā´fẽr ( שׁפיר , shāphı̄r , "glittering"; καλῶς , kalṓs ; the King James Version Saphir ): One of a group of towns mentioned in Micah 1:10-15 . From the association with Gath, Achzib (of Judah) and Mareshah, it would seem that the places mentioned were in Southwestern Palestine. According to Eusebius, in Onomasticon , there was a Σαφείρ , Sapheı́r , "in the hill country" (from a confusion with Shamir ( Joshua 15:48 ), where Septuagint A has Sapheir) between Eleutheropolis and Ascalon. The name probably survives in that of three villages called es - Sūāfir , in the plain, some 3 1/2 miles Southeast of Ashdod ( PEF , II, 413, Sh XV). Cheyne ( EB , col. 4282) suggests the white "glittering" hill Tell eṣ - Ṣāfı , at the entrance to the Wâdy eṣ - Sunt , which was known to the Crusaders as Blanchegarde , but this site seems a more probable one for Gath (which see).
